Bell-Jeff On Top Of Santa Cruz!

BURBANK – The St. Anthony girls’ basketball team found itself in the wrong place at the wrong point of the Santa Cruz League schedule Tuesday night.

Facing a highly motivated opponent in Bell-Jeff, which had only lost once at home in the past 2 1/2 seasons and was coming off a six-point setback Saturday at Harvard-Westlake, the visiting Saints couldn’t keep pace with the Guards.

With 6-foot-3 sophomore Kendall Cooper sidelined throughout with foul trouble for St. Anthony, Bell-Jeff relied on its full-court pressure to force turnovers, which led to several easy transition baskets, resulting in a 74-54 win.

“Any time we lose, we have a bad taste in our mouth and we want to get rid of that feeling as soon as possible,” said Rishonda Napier, who had 20 points and five assists.

“It definitely felt great to come back with a good performance like this and get a win.”

Behind 22 points from Jourdan Cooper, St. Anthony (10-6, 2-1) remained within striking distance until early in the fourth, before Bell-Jeff (13-6, 2-0) responded with a 13-point run to grab a 66-46 lead with four minutes left.

Jasmine Smith and Kiah Jones took advantage of Kendall Cooper’s absence inside by repeatedly attacking the basket. Smith finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds, six steals and four assists for the Guards, with Jones adding six points and 10 rebounds, as Bell-Jeff outscored St. Anthony 21-10 in the final quarter.

“We just came out really focused,” Smith said. “We had a great practice (Monday) and we knew what we had to do. (St. Anthony) is by far one of the toughest teams in our league, so we knew we had to be prepared.”

Bell-Jeff also received significant contributions from Leslie Lopez-Wood (11 points, five steals) — held to one point in the 61-55 loss against Harvard-Westlake — and Layana White (10 points, four steals), who didn’t play Saturday against the Wolverines.

“When one of our family members is missing, and I say that because our team is a family, it definitely makes a difference,” Napier said. “When we all work together as a team, the results are tremendous.”

Clarissa Larios added six points and Johnece Miller contributed five points and seven rebounds for the Guards. Johnson and Natalie Williams both had nine points for St. Anthony.